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MEXICAN NATIONAL FLAG 



J\ Sketch 



Of the State of 



"^^P^®^-3 



Chiapas, IHexico 



1897 



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COPYRIGHT 

1897 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 






GEO. RIOE & SONS, (Incorp) 
Los Augeles, California 

ENGRAVINGS BY 

MAUSARDCOLLIER CO. 

Los Angeles 



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CD 



TO THE 

HONORABLE EMILIO RABASA, 

ILLUSTRIOUS AS CITIZEN, GOVERNOR, SENATOR 

AND STATESMAN, 

THIS BRIEF SKETCH OF HIS STATE IS 

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 

THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE 




HAT is offered the reader in the following pages has been, in large measure, drawn from the Author's observa- 
tions and travels in Mexico during the past two years. These travels, in which the Republic has been throe 
times crossed from ocean to ocean, have extended from the northern boundary on the Rio Grande to the con- 
fines of the Republic of Guatemala on the south; and has covered to a greater or less extent twenty-one of 
the twenty-seven Mexican States. 
The accompanying illustrations are from photographs taken under the personal supervision of the Author and from 
views kindly furnished by the Hon. Emilio Rabasa, present Senator representing the state of Chiapas in the Mexican Na,tional 
Congress. These photographic reproductions will give the reader a better conception of the actual appearance and character of 
the country than is possible to convey by any written description. 

Among other sources of authentic information consulted in the preparation of this brief sketch of Chiapas, and the one 
most drawn upon, has been the well digested state compilation of Don Ramon Rabasa entitled "El Estado de Chiapas Geografia 
y Estadistica." To this valuable work and its able compiler is to be credited much of the general data and statistical tables 
herein contained. 

From many years experience in surveys of tlie public domain on the frontier of our Western States, the Author 
believes himself a competent judge of soil, climate and the other essentials necessary to a desirable country and therefore does 
not hesitate to give expression to his opinion upon that subject. 



^ms^mm^ Contents tmmmm-9mme^ 



CHAPTER I. ,.^^j 

Humboldt's Estimate of Mexico- [ta Contour- Diversity of Cli- 
mate-Its Arirl and Semi-arid Lands ^The State of Chiapas and 
its Rainfall --..... ,„ 

CHAPTER II. 

Prehistoric- Chiapas -The Maya People -Their Traditional Mi- 
gration-First Invasion by Spaniards Under Martin Marin— Capt- 
ure of the Chipanec Capital- Invaded and Subjugated by Diego 
Mazariegos- Christianizing the People - Chiapas Becomes a De- 
pendency of Guatemala ----- 17 

CHAPTER III. 

Revolts Against Spain—Allies Itself with the Republic of Mexico 
—Shares in the Turmoils of that Country- Porfirio Diaz--Popula- 
tion- The People and their Hospitality- Language and Dialects- 
Domestic Economy-Surviving Native Customs-Religious Belief 
and Superstitions— The Federal Schools - - . .21 

CHAPTER IV. 

Geographical Location— Boundaries-Topography- River Drain- 
age-Mountain Systems -Possibilities of Population compared 
with Switzerland— Commercial avenues : present and prospective 
-Climate -Products Political subdivisions - - - 25 



CHAPTER V. 
A synopsis of the departments of Soconusco, Tonala, Comitan, Las 
Casas, La Libertad, Chiapa, Tuxtia, Mescalapa, Pichucaico, Sim- 
ojovel and Chilon ----.. qj 

CHAPTER VL 
Department of Palenke- Area and Population— Visited by Cortez 
—Settled in 1650--Pre historic city of Palenke— Its ruins— Topog- 
raphy— Rainfall- Navigable rivers-Climate- Animalsandinsects 
— Soil and products - - - _ . . - 47 

CHAPTER Vn. 
CofiFee— Botanical description— Home of the plant -First utilized 
—Extended use— Introduction into America— Cultivation in Mex- 
ico—In Palenke— Cost and profit per acre— Mr. Pease's table of 
expense per aire - Accessibility of coffee lands of the Rio Michol 
to transportation - - - . . _ - 63 

CHAPTER VIIL 
Colonization -Vast size of Mexican estates— Difficulty of purchase 
-Advantages of colonization— Organization of Palenke Coffee 
Land Co.— Their Land on the Rio Michol— Access to the markets 



^>im-^^fm-^mmmmmmi Illustrations mmmmmmmmm^i@m*ee^ 



Mexican Flag - - - • 

Chac-Mool - - - - 

Statue Cuauteinoc 
A Trail in the Forest 
Banana Plant - - - 

Going to Market 

A Typical Native Hut in the Tropics 
Other Mexican Products 
Tributary of the lv±ichol 
Group of Maya Types 
A Bit of Tropical Forest - 
A Native Hamlet 
Town of Chiapa 
A Chiapanec Woman - 
Parish Church, Tuxtla 
Market or PlaZR, Tuxtla 
A View on the Trail 
Grinding Corn for Tortillas 
Hotel de las Tortillas y Frijoles 
Canyon of El Sumidero 
A Coffee Tree _ - - - 

Types of Forest Tribes 
Cacao - - - - - 

Views on Tuxtla— San Geronimo Wagon Ro; 
Rapids of the Mai Paso 
A Cocoanut Palm 
Home, Sweet Home 
View in the Department of Tonala 
View in the Department of Comitan 
Descendant of an Ancient King 
View in the Departmeut of La Libertad 
Fountain, Town of Chiapa 
Don Rodrigo Rancho, Department of Tuxtla 
Ruined Church, Querhula 
Below the Mai Paso, Department of Mescalapa 
On the Lower Mescalapa, Department of Pii'hucalco 
On the Borders of the State of Tabasco - 



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Town of Pichucalco ------ 

On the Tapijulapa River - - - - - 

View in the Department of Chilon - - - - 

El Salto de Agua ------ 

Temple of the Sun, Ruins of Palenke 

A Native Farm in the Valley of the Miihol 

Temple of the Cross, Ruins of Palenke 

A View of the Campanario Range . - - 

Western Side of the Palace, Ruins of Palenke 

View on the Rio Michol - - - - - 

Eastern Side of the Main Court of the Palace, Ruins of 
Palenke - - - - - - 

River Landing, El Salto - - - - - 

A Typical Mountain Landscape - - - - 

Tulija River, Near the Mouth of the Michol 

Landscape in the Valley of the Michol 

Cascades of the Tulija - - - - - 

Entrance to the Forest from the Grass Lands 

Above the Cascades on the Tulija 

A Two-year-old Coffee Tree - - - - - 

On the Banks of the Rio Michol - - - ■ 

Trail in the Foothills ------ 

Town of Hidalgo ------ 

View on the El Salto— San Cristobal Trail - 
Mahogany Raft on the Tulija - - - - 

Cocoanut Palms on the Tulija - - - - 

A Clearing in the Forest - - - - - 

View in the Valley of the Rio Michol 

The Capitol of Tabasco, San Juan Bautista 

American Consulate, Frontera - - - - 

Portof Frontera ------ 

Main Street in Frontera - - . - - 

Maps. 
United States and Mexico - - - - 

States of Chiapas and Tabasco - - - - 

Plat of Lands of the Palenke Coffee Land Company 




CHAC-MOOL 

AN ANCIENT MAYAN DEITY 
THIS FIGUKE IS LIFE SIZE AND IS CUT FROM A SINGLE BLOCK OF STONE 



Intro- 
ductory 




OTWITHSTANDING the proximity of the Mexican Republic, the average American, at present, knows less of its 
twelve millions of people, their needs, their commerce or of the extent and enormous resources of the country 
they inhabit, than do the more distant French, German, Spanish or English traders who have, thus far, success- 
fully monopolized so large a part of their trade and possibilities. In fact the average American — educated though 
he be — is more familiar with any part of Europe; has a better knowledge of China and Japan; and actually knows 
more about the Transvaal in South Africa, than he does of the Great Republic that forms a portion of the southern boundary of 
his own country, and which, from his defective knowledge, he continues to view as more remote than the distant countries named. 
Nevertheless the most remote state capital in all Mexico is nearer the continental market of Chicago, than are either of 
the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland or Seattle. In fact the most southern state in the Republic is as near Chicago 
as are the states of Washington, Oregon or California; and is correspondingly as much nearer the great cities of the Atlantic sea- 
board. These simple geographical facts are seemingly unknown to more than one in one thousand of the discontented Americans 
now settled along the semi-arid border lands of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Hundreds of thousands of these 
enterprising people are anxiously looking for some more inviting locality than the wind-swept half arid plains they now occupy; 
but nothing offers save only the forbidding sage brush, semi-desert lands that stretch from Kansas and Nebraska westward to the 
Pacific Ocean and which, to redeem and make in the least productive, cost more per acre than would jjroportionately an improved 
farm of more desirable land in states east of the Mississippi river. 

With the creation of the territory of Oklahoma came the absorption, by pre-emption and homestead entry, of the last 
acre of arable free lands of the United States. At the opening up of this last of a one time grand domain, more than a hundred 
thousand homeseekers stood in a lengthened line waiting the signal to join in a mad race that would insure a possible claim, of 



doulittul value, to aliout one in live of the racing contestants. Notwithstanding the absolute exhaustion of the arable free lands 
of the general government and the consequent general advance in land values throughout all the States, European immigration 
remains unchecked; the arrivals continuing at the rate of three hundred thousand to half a million yearly. These oncoming 
myriads, added to the natural increase of seventy millions of people, have served to half congest the one-time frontier settlements of 
the Western States, causing the more intelligent and ambitious to look about them for new fields that may invite their enterprise. 

It is the unanimous opinion of all travelers visiting Mexico, that when the American public come to a true knowledge 
of the immense resources of its nearest neighbor, and learn of the enormous possibilities of its soil and the invitation of its 
delightful climate, there will then set in such a flood of emigration to the south of the Rio Grande as has never before been 
known on the American continent; and it is needless to say, those first to avail themselves of these opportunities will be the ones 
to reap the greatest rewards. All that is lacking to turn this waiting human tide southward, is reliable information of the 
country, its laws, its products, climate and possibilities. 

It is the aim of this brief compilation to add its modest tribute of data and suggestion to the fund of this needed and 
sought for information. 





CHAPTER I 



HUMBOIiT S ESTIMATE OF MEXICO — ITS CONTOUK — DIVERSITY OF CLIMATE 
— ITS ARID AND SEMI-ARID LANDS — THE STATE OP CHIAPAS AND IT S 
EAINFALIi. 



B 



STATUE OF CUAUTEMOC 



[^0 country in the new world is so filled with 
the ruins of forgotten cities, nor is so rich in 
its traditions, nor yet so interesting in the 
romance of its known history as the " Land of the 
Alontezumas." Nor is there on the face of the 
globe, a country possessing a diversity of soil, cli- 
mate and products, equal to the states of the Mex- 
ican Republic. 

So good an authority as the noted scientist Baron von Humboldt has declared that 
" the diverse climate of Mexico's wrinkled surface makes possible ihe successful cultivation 
of every known product useful to man. " " Every plant from each and every zone, " 
said that experienced traveller, " can find somewhere in Mexico a congenial soil and 
climate." 

In contour Mexico is mountainous throughout its length and breadth, excepting only 
the limited arid plains of the great plateau and the still more limited area of level lands on 
either coast. From its mountainous character, Mexico is found to be as varied in climate 




A TRAIL IN THh; l''OREST 




'«i!ib 



BANANA PLANT 



as its rugged contour is diverse in clianging altitude; ranging from the perpetual 
snow line of its lofty mountain summits down to the unchanging verdure of its 
tropical forests in the tiena caliente. 

Altitude in Mexico is the chief factor determining climate. In 
many places in the Republic it is possible to look from freezing altit- 
udes, suitable only for the growing of wheat, or barley, down into 
valleys green with groves of orange and bananas. 
Because of these changing con- 
ditions and the consequent 
change in variet}' of pro- 
ducts, it is impossible tn 
give within the limits of a 
..-'' compilation of this char- 

acter an intelligent de- 
cription of more than a 
very small portion of any 
o.ie state. 

Briefly considered, Mexico, north 
of latitude 22°, is as arid in char- 
acter, and much the same in its 
ncral topographical features, as our own territories 
of New Mexico and Arizona, rahi in certain localities 
being almost unknown. South of that parallel, how- 
ever, the states, as a rule, enjoy a rainfall sufficient 
for the maturing of the annual crops. Throughout all 
Mexico only two seasons are recognized, viz: the 
" wet " and the " dry, " the duration of these seasons 
depending wholly on the locality. In these south- 
ern latitudes the proximity of sea and mountain, to- 
gether with the altitude of the land and prevailing 




■•("■jsJS^ 



air currents, are the factors governing tlie rain- 
fall and its distribution throughout the ) ear. 

Throughout all central and in the greater por- 
tion of southern Mexico, the " wet " season covers 
a period of from three to five months, 
with a following drouth for the remain- 
der of the year. 

AVhile this period of rainfall ii usual 
ly ample for the maturing of all 
ordinary crops — corn, beans, etc. 
irrigation must be resorted to for 
the successful cultivation 
of such products as oranges, 
bananas, cacao, rubber, 
coffee and in fact all pro- 
ducts requiring ample or 
long continued moisture. 

Throughout the southern 
two-thirds of Vera Cruz, 
the whole of Tabasco and 
also the immediate gulf 
slopes of the states of 
Oaxaca and Chiapas, the 
rainfall is abundant dur- 
ing eight to ten months 
of the year. Even in the 
so-called "dry" months, 
showers are frequent, rend- 
ering irrigation wholly unnecessary at any time. This 
abundant rainfall — nearly or quite one hundred annual 




A'.-, 




■^^>^.^x. 



TYPICAL NATIVJi: HUT IN THE TROPICS 



inches — and its uniform distribution throughout 
so great a portion of the year; together with a 
virgin soil ; as rich and enduring as any 
known in the world, marks this region as 
the pearl of Mexico's agricultural 
possibilities. 
\'"v Of these states, " so blessed by 

Heaven's descending rain," Vera 
Cruz and Tabasco are open to 
the criticism of undesirable cli- 
mate ; the low altitudes of their 
level lands, although rich and 
productive, presenting far 
less invitation to the north- 
ern settler than the more 
salubrious uplands and 
mountain slopes of Oaxaca 
and Chiapas. 

Of these latter states, 
particularly in Chiapas, the 
mountain streams are as 
pure and clear as those of 
of New England, while the 
air, tempered by breezes 
from both gulf and ocean, 
brings a climate almost 
ideal in its perfection, and 
one that is as healthy and 
inviting as that of any known country. 

It is of this state of Chiapas, the " Gem " of all the 



iS~rHSrS^ 



JdOBiraKiikilJu 





CHAPTER II. 

PKE-HISTOKIO CHIAPAS — THE MAYA PEOPLE— THEIK TRADITIONAL MIGBATION — 
FIRST INVASION BY SPANIARDS UNDER MARTIN MARIN — CAPTURE OP THE 
CHIAPANEC CAPITAL— INVADED AND SUBJUGATED BY DIEGO MAZARIEGOS — 
CHRISTIANIZING THE PEOPLE— CHIAPAS BECOMES A DEPENDENCY OF GUATEMALA. 



r 

V 



.tP-"" ^ .'-' ■■ "■•". t^Tr'HE state 

17° 51' north latitude, is the most southern of all the states 

_^ ^ ^ ^ , :^ in the Republic of Mexico. It is bounded on the north by the 

state of Tabasco, on the south by the Pacific Ocean ; on the east 

by the Republic of Guatemala and on the west by the states of 

Oaxaca and Vera Cruz. Its 23,800 square miles of territory makes it the sixteenth .in area among 

the twenty-seven Mexican states. 

Real information as to the immediate pre-Columbian history of Chiapas, although very 
imperfect, is by no means wholly wanting. But its more ancient civilization — a civilization that 
mutely declares itself in the vast size of its forgotten cities — remains sealed in the hieroglyphics 
of its wonderfully carved tablets of stone and sculptured monoliths, that still lie waiting the un- 
covering of some " Rosetta Stone " to unlock their hidden secrets that tell of their mysterious 
builders. 

To a greater extent than almost any other portion of the Mexican Republic, the soil of the 
state of Chiapas is found to be a very cemetery of buried cities. So numerous are these ancient 




A TRIBUTARY OF THE .MICHOL 



monuments that no single 
Department in the entire 
state but what contains at 
least one or more of these one 
time populous and busy but 
now forgotten marts of trade. 
Indeed so common are these 
antiquities that they are 
viewed with little interest 
by the people, the more noted 
ruins of Palenke, because of 
their better preservation, 
alone being mentioned as 
deserving attention. Never- 
theless scattered throughout 
the state are remains indicating a still 
higher antiquity than do the palaces and 
temples of the more famous city named. 

Of these more ancient relics may be 
mentioned the pre-historic highway found 
here and there leading along the southern 
slopes of the Sierra Madre in the Depart- 
ments of Tonala and Soconusco ; and that 
further exploration may find as extend- 
ing southward through Central America and noith at 
least to the state of Sinaloa. The remains of th 
great work of a vanished people are similar in gen ra 
design and engineering features to the famed hfgCa, 
ot the Peruvian Incas. '^ 

The people found in possession of what is now the 




state of Chiapas, by the conquering Spaniard, were 
a number of tribes allied to the great Maya fam ly a' 
ace with the most interesting civilization, in ma'ny 
lespects, of any of the natives of the New World It 
exceping the Incas of Peru; and one certainly m 

hts of'th "' " '^1 ^"'"^"°^^' *^- ^h '^-h 

etnics of the more martial Aztecs. 

According to Maya tradition their people originally 
came together from opposite direction' from tLeZ 
and from the west, being guided across lands and 
seas by a Deity. It is certain they possessed 
vessels that were decked, and understood some- 
thing of navigation. The first legendary person- 
ages of Mayan tradition, at once gods, heroes and 
founders of empires, are Votan and Zamna, to 
whom were attributed all 'the 
national institutions and in- 
ventions since the beginning 
of the world. After them 
came Cukulcan— suspiciously 
similar in attributes to the 
Mexican demi-god Quetzal- 
coatl— who was followed in 
turn by Tutul Xiu. . Accord- 
ing to National legend this 
dynasty lasted for more than 
eleven centuries; and despite 
incessant wars ; the loss of 
cities and other calamities, 
it was still holding sway 




over a large country clown to the coming of the Spaniard. With the arrival of 
this ruthless robber, came the extinction of the political life and civilization of 
the Maya people and well nigh the extinction of the race itself. Though fearlessly 
brave and independent in spirit these bold mountaineers were unable to cope with 
the Spaniards' superior military skill and weapons and soon shared the dismal 
fate that befell all others of the unfortunate native races in Mexico. 

In 1523, that pitiless scourge, Cortez, equipped a force of one hundred and ten 
Spaniards together with a numerous auxiliary of natives which, under the command 
of one of his assistant butchers — Martin Marin — was directed to subjugate the country 
now comprising the state of Chiapas. Invading the country by the native high- 
ways, leading up the banks of the Mescalapa river, Marin fought his way from 
Tabasco to Chiapa, the then capital of the Chiapanec nation. Here behind the 
ramparts of their stone fortress— remnants of which still remain— the gallant 
mountaineers made their last grand rally in defense of their ancestral homes. 
For days a gallant defense was made against the siege of the Spaniards and 
their host of native allies. But in the end overpowered and driven to the 
last extremity, and scorning the slavery that surrender implied, the unconquerable 
survivors gathered their wives and children in their arms, and thus locked in a last 
rmbrace, threw themselves over the precipice to certain death on the rocks that 
lay hundreds of feet below. Thousands of these brave people 
are said to have met death in this manner. 

After the capture of the Chiapanec capital, Marin, with 
fire and sword soon overran the. entire country, not how- 
ever without meeting with a stubborn resistance for, 
in the end, while he had conquered the country, his 
losses left him too weak in numbers to establish 
his intended settlement, and after six months un- 
profitable butchering, he withdrew to Tabasco ,' 
leaving the country at comparative peace for 
three years. 




BIT OF FORE^f 



A NATIVE VILLAGE 



Ill l.")2(; thr Spaiiiards a»iun returned, tliis time under tlie ccniimaud of Diego Mazariegos, who fairly and linally ^iuliju- 
gated the country; and although outlireaks occurred at intervals for many years, the power of the people was hroken never to 
recover itself. Near the site of the ancient capital city of Chiapa — the one so gallantly defended hy its people against Marin — 
^lazariegos founded the first Spanish settlement in the state, and which has retained the name of the ancient city of Chiapa, a 
view of which appears on this page. 

Having suVidued the people Mazariegos proceeded to divide the lands and the inhaliitants among his followers and insti- 
tuted a government on the usual lines of trihute and peonage laid down by the early conquistadores. The rule of this man, 
though brief, was as just as could be expected from a commissioned robber; but unfortunately was followed by the brutal Guzman 
and a long line of merciless oppressors. 

With the religious zeal characteristic of the day and age, the conquerers upon the final submission of the people, began 
at once — with the usual bristling accompaniment of arms — the christianizing of such of the inhabitants as had, unfortunately, 
survived the slaughter of their subjugation. To supervise and aid this holy work the humane Las Casas was sent to Chiapas 
and in 1543 was made Bishop of the country. This pious priest — the only known Spaniard ever suspected of human sympathy 
— was prompt to vigorouslj' denounce the barbarous treatment the simple natives were receiving at the hands of his unfeeling 
countrymen — a treatment that, in the atmosphere of the nineteenth century, shocks humanity to read. However, the protests of 
the holy man went unheeded, the pillage and plunder of the defenseless people continued until such as could escape their bondage, 
sought safety in the protecting wilds of the forest. 

With the founding of the town of Chiapa and the earlier settlements, what is now the state of Chiapas, remained for 
some time a debatable land of ownership, at last it fell to the captain generalcy of Guatemala, remaining a dependency of that 
country through nearly the full limit of three long centuries of Spanish misrule and misery. 




THE TOWN OF CHIAPA 

20 




CHAPTER III 



OPPRESSIVE LEGISLATION — REBELS AGAINST SPAIN — ALLIES ITSELF WITH MEXICO —SHARES I^^ THE TURMOILS OP THAT 
COUNTRY — PORFIRIO DIAZ— POPULATION-- THE PEOPLE AND THEIR HOSPITALITY — LANGUAGE AND DIALECTS — 
DOMESTIC ECONOMY - SURVIVING NATIVE CUSTOMS— RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND SUPERSTITIONS— THE FEDERAL SCHOOLS. 



UHIAPANEC WOMA 



iJ^^OR three hundred years following the conquest Chiapas, in common with all Spanish America, 
was throttled b}' the barbarous oppression of its alien rulers, whose only theory of government 
was that of " farming the people." No Mexican, whatever his rank or station, was permitted 
to hold office or was given the least voice in the affairs of his own country. Among the 
countless blighting Spanish statutes enacted — regardless of the suitability of soil and climate 
or of the necessities of the people — was the absolute prohibition of the manufacture or 
cultivation of anything in Mexico that could be made or grown in Spain. For three long 
centuries the planting of the vine, the olive, and many other useful products was a 
statutory crime throughout all Mexico ; and so late as the year 1819 it still remained a crim- 
inal offense for the ship of any nation, other than Spain, to enter any Mexican port. So 
jealous were these royal bandits that even the shipwrecked mariner, cast upon its inhospitable shores, was fortunate indeed, if 
no worse fate befell him than confinement in a Spanish dungeon until deported from the country. These accumulating smother- 
ing Spanish statutes at last led to the general revolt in which Chiapas promptly joined. Declai'ing its independence of 
Guatemala in 1821, it maintained its political autonomy for three years, and then allied its fortunes with those of Mexico, 
becoming a state of the Republic in 1824. 

Compelled at last to acknowledge the independence of her misgoverned colonies, Spain's parting gift was the legacy of her 
three hundred years of corruption and vicious laws ; a heritage of evil that proved a Pandora's box — a sea of troubles, that 
filled the country with strife and turmoil through all the years that lay between the rule of the last of the viceroys and the 
coming of that grandest character in Mexican history — Porfirio Diaz — at once the Washington, Lincoln and Grant of his 
country. 

This greatest of all Mexicans — equipped only with his genius and his naked sword — with an ill-clad, half-armed 
peasantry, first drove the drilled battalions of his country's enemies from its shores in broken rout; and then — with the diplomacy 



of a Tallyrand — reconciled the internal factions born of fifty years of 
civil discord and gave permanent peace to his long distracted country. 
With continued peace his matchless statesmanship has brought prosperity 
and happiness to twelve millions of contented people — a record unex- 
celled by any man, in any country, in any age. When the unbiased 
history of this remarkable man comes to be written and the splendor of 
his achievements in war and in peace shall be told, the verdict of man- 
kind will place him 





MARKET OK PLAZA - TUXTLA 



PABISH CHURCH AT TUXTLA 



as the First Soldier; 
First Diplomat; 
First Statesman 
and Patriot of his 
Century. 

The state of Chi- 
apas, having sur- 
vived the three 

hundred years of Spanish oppression and outlived the fifty years of its 
own revolutions, has now fairly entered upon the era of prosperity brought 
to the whole country by the illustrious Diaz. Life and property are today 
as secure and travel as safe in the state of Chiapas (and for that matter in 
any state in the Republic) as it is in any part of the United States, not ex- 
cepting New England. Any statement to the contrary is simply the cheap 
tale of the shallow traveler who seeks, in the telling, to pose as the hero of 
"thrilling adventure." 

Relating to this feature of the law-abiding character of the Mexican peo- 
ple it can be stated as a datical fact, that the violent deaths among their 
twelve millions of population during the year 1894, weie less than one-fourth 
of the number of violent deaths among any twelve millions of people in the 
United States for the same period of time. 

By the census of 1892 the population of the state of Chiapas is placed 




at 276,789. Of this number 117,723 are whites and mixed bloods, while 159,066 are returned 
as Indians. 

To a polished politeness, the educated Chiapan adds the merit of a hospitality unknown 
to the selfish, though courtly reserve of his Spanish ancestry. This virtue of hospitality is shared 
equally by the common people, and has even, in large measure, been absorbed by the native In- 
dian. As an endorsement of this universal hospitality, the writer \vill here take occasion to 
say, that in a recent journey of several hundred miles through the state of Chiapas no request 
for accommodations ever met with refusal from high or low, white man or Indian. It is true 
that in remote places and in the Indian towns of the interior, the accommodations were often 
of the most primitive character and the fare sometimes meager, but the shelter and fare such as 
the hospitable owner had to offer was cheerfully given. 

While Spanish is, of course, the language of the country, still tens of thousands of its In- 
dian population speak only some one of the half score or more of native dia- 
lects common within the borders of the state. 

In their domestic economy the inhaliitants of Chiapas are similar in 
habit to the people of the Kepublic generally. In their food supply ninety- 
five per cent of these people confine themselves to the same limited 
range of products — corn, beans, chilis and indigenous fruits, and con- 
tinue much the same primitive methods of preparation found common 
at the time of the conquest. The tortilla, made from corn, is the uni- 
versal bread, the staff of life of all Mexicans, except perhaps the lim- 
ited aristocracy. In the prepai-ation of this bread or cake, the corn 
is first softened in lime water and is then crushed upon a grinding 
stone — the Mexican metate — to a paste, and is then fashioned by the 
deft fingers of the woman into the ever present tortilla. The woman 
at the "metate" grinding corn is about the most common sight in all 
Mexico. 

Among the surviving customs of the native Indian, is that of ' 
the use of cacao or chocolate beans, in certain localities of the state, as 
money. During the summer of 1S96, the established "rate of exchange" 

■' o ! ^ ^^ GEINDING COKN FOR TORTILLAS 




. VIRW OX THK TRAIL 



at Quechula on the Mescalapa river, recognized eight of these beans as equivalent to the value of one cent Mexican money. In 
pre-Columbian times cacao constituted a part of the national currency throughout the Ancient Empire. They also, in many 
localities, cling to their old-time communistic ideas. In the pueblos or native towns, the population all labor in the fields, which 
are common property, under the direction of the chief man of the village. All crops are thus cultivated, harvested, stored, 
and then issued as required with a just regard to the needs and necessities of all. In this distribution the old, the feeble and 
the sick share equally with the well and robust, old age being given especial care and attention. 

The entire white population of Chiapas is Catholic in its religious belief; so too, in a sense, are a majority of the Indians 
inhabiting the state. However, many of these so-called christian Indians, particularly those of Maya descent, are often found to 
mingle in their private worship certain of their pagan rites. These people have also preserved much of their ancient lore regard- 
ing the healing art and the stars. Their astrologers still observe the conjunction of the constellations, predicting from them the 
public and private events of life, the results of the harvests and similar forecasts. In Campeche and Yucatan, where these Maya 
people constitute the bulk of the population, the mingling of these pagan and christian rites is still more pronounced. There 
every village has its "cunning man" who continues to read the future in a quartz crystal globe. Formerly every Maya town 
possessed its Chilan-Balam book, that is the "Interpreter of the Oracles," now only about a dozen are known. Among the illit- 
erate clergy are certain priests, either very complacent or very ignorant of the orthodox church rites, who still celebrate, with the 
people, the Misa Milpera or "field mass," at which a cock is sacrificed, the four cardinal points 
being first sprinkled with some fermented liquor, with invocations both to the Three Persons 
of the Holy Trinity and to the Pah-ah-tun, that is, the four ancient patrons of the rain and 
the crops. These tutelar Deities, have, however, taken Christian names, the Red or God of 
the East, having become St. Dominic: the White or God of the North, St. Gabriel; the Black or 
God of the West, St. James, and the Yellow Goddess of the South, Mary Magdalene. 

The school system of the Federal government is being rapidly extended throughout 
the state of Chiapas and is perceptibly diminishing its high percentage of illiteracy and 
gradually melting its superstitions. Its white population is naturally as intelligent as those 
of any country, while it is well known that the native Indians, especially those of Maya an- 
cestry are much superior both physically and mentally to the plateau natives of the farther 
north. A few years more and the Federal school will have reversed the present ratio of illi- 
teracy in the state of Chiapas. 




HOTKL DE LAS TORTILLAS Y FRI.IOLES 




CANON OF EL SUMIDEEO 



CHAPTER IV 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION — EOUKDARIES — TOPOGRAPHY — EIVEK DRAINAGE- 
MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS —POSSIBILITIES OF POPULATION COMPARED WITH SWITZ- 
ERLAND— COMMEKOIAL avenues: PRESENT AND PROSPECTIVE — CLIW ATE — 
PRODUCTS— POLITICAL SUBDIVISION. 

N topography the state of Chiapas is mountainous throughout, 
being occupied by two fairly detached if not distinct mountain 
systems, which are separated by a grand depression extending 
the entire length of the state from southeast to northwest, and through 
which flow the waters of the Mescalapa river to the Gulf of Mexico. 
This river, one of the largest in all Mexico, takes its rise in the Re- 
public of Guatemala, and in its seaward course serves, with its 
tributaries, as the principal drainage system of Chiapas. The 
principal mountain range is the Sierra |Madre, which on a line 
parallel to the Pacific, traverses the state]][from] Guatemala to the 
state of Oaxaca and forms the watershed between the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans. Rising abruptly from a narrow fringe of low lying 
coast land, the Sierra Madre rapidly attains the' altitude of from 
2500 to 5000 feet; its crest at no point being more than forty miles 
distant from the Pacific tide waters. On its northern slopes, how- 
ever, the descent is more gradual falling away into rolling plateaus 
and fertile valleys, delightful in climate and productive in soil. 

The mountain system to the north of the Mescalapa river 
consists of lateral spurs from the main cordillera, through 
which the great river has broken its way, together with 



detached and more independent ranges, 
trend of all these spurs and minor 
ranges is approximately north to 
south, the mountain mass culminat- 
ing in a lofty plateau of 7000 to 8000 
feet in the central portion of the state. 
The Usumacinta river marking for 
some distance the boundary between 
the Republic of Mexico and 
Guatemala drains considerable 
of the eastern portion of the 
state and is, next to the Miss- 
issippi, the largest river falling 
into the Gulf of Mexico. 

The northern portion of the 
state, comprising the 
departments of Pich- 
ucalco, Simojovel and 
Palenke are drained 
largely by the Blan- 
quillOjMacuspana and 
Tulija rivers. 

Notwithstanding its 
mountainous chara- 
acter, Chiapas is really 
much less broken in contour 
than is Switzerland in Europe. 
This Alpine Confederation 
sustains a prosperous popula- 
tion of 250 to each square 



The general 




TYPES or rOREST TKIBES 



mile of its available territory. On this basis of 
density of settlement, Chiapas will be 
found capable of sustaining a popula- 
tion of not less than six millions. 
Again, if to these estimates be added 
the superior climate and consequent 
greater prodvictiveness of the soil of 
Chiapas over that of the Swiss Re- 
public, it will be found 
that the state of Chiapas 
can maintain within its 
borders more than twelve 
millions of people. These 
figures may seem astound- 
ing butthe ratios figured are 
absolutely correct. 

Of manufacturing 
industries, the state 
cannot be said to 
contain a single im- 
portant institution. 
However, the field 
thus open to capital 
offers the invitation implied 
by the consumption of more 
than a quarter of a million of 
people. 

The state at present pos- 
sesses no line of railway, al- 
though a recent concession 




contemplates the construction of a road from San Geronimo on the TehuantepeC 
railway via Tonali'i and Tapachula to Juarez on the Guatemalan frontier; and 
and also a line from Tuxtla, the capital, intersecting the above line at a point 
south of the Sierra Madre. These proposed lines will no doubt be built at an 
early date. At present the only road in the state suitable to a wheeled vehicle is 
the one from Tuxtla via San Miguel and Dolores to San Geronimo on the 
TehuantepeC Railway. 

Climate.^' Lying "'ell within the zone of the changing trade winds ; the short 
distance from ocean to ocean, and the general high altitude of its uneven sur- 
face, are conditions insuring to the state of Chiapas the most perfect climate 
known on the continent. All the border departments on the north together with 
Chilon and a portion of northeastern Comitan are forest grown, while all the 
iither departments of the state lie within the zone of the dry seasons which, ex- 
tending over a period of from four to six months, make possible only a 
limited tree growth, thereby giving to ail that part of the country an 
" open " character. 

Pfoducts^ The changing contour of so great a scope of country as 
Chiapas, reaching from sea level to altitudes of 8000 feet and more, pre- 
; sents every variety of climate from that of freezing cold to that of per- 

petual summer, a range of temperature that in turn makes possible a 
variety of products known to few other localities on the globe. 

Here, from the table lands as cold in climate as Missouri, waving 
fields of wheat and barley look down on valleys clothed in perpetual 
green, where frost is never known and where flourish the almost countless 
products found only in the tropics. 
The more important export products of the state consists of coffee, sugar, 
vanilla, indigo, hennequen, cacao (the bean from which the chocolate of com- 
merce is prepared), cocoanuts and rubber. 

Wheat, beans, rice, and all other grains, fruits and vegetables, common to 



CACAO PODS AND HEANS 




VIEWS ON WAOON ROAD FROM TUXTLA TO SAN GEBONIMO. 



both the tropical and temperate zones, are produced in abundance at the various suitable altitudes in the state, but only in 
such quantities as are necessary to meet the local demand. 

Of the export products coffee is the principal, the state sending abroad in 1892 the grand aggregate of 1,761,633 pounds. 

Stock raising is an important and, in some departments, the principal industry, horses and cattle finding a ready market 
in the adjoining Republic of Guatemala. 

The political sub-divisions of the state of Chiapas, com}'rise twelve departments or counties, the city of Tuxtla being the 
capital. 

Of these various departments a brief synopsis will now be given. 




-r :^i^^^-^^-_ 




BAPID.S OF THE MAL PASO 




CHAPTER V 

A SYNOPSIS OF THE DEPAKTMENTS OP SOOONUSCO, TONALA, OOMITAN, LAS CASAS, lA LTEEBTAD, CHIAPA 
TDXTLA, MEBOAI.APA, PICHDCALCO, SIMOJOVEL AND CHILON. ' 

Soconusco. 

='HE department of Soconusco lies between the crest of the Sierra Madre mountains 
and the Pacific a narrow strip of level land extending along its coast. From 
J among the poorest and least desirable, Soconusco has become, within a few 
years, one of the richest and best known departments in the state ; in which it stands 
sixth in population ; seventh in area ; second in instruction and also second in property 
yaluation which is returned at $3,838,301.00. An amount that divided among its 20,928 
inhabitants allots a wealth of nearly $200.00 per capita. Of the population 7,872 are' In- 
dians, nearly all of whom speak Spanish. 

Blessed with an abundant water supply from its numerous streams with which to irri- 
gate a soil peculiarly adapted to the production of coffee, the cultivation of the bean has 
rapidly extended over the greater portion of the department, bringing wealth to everyone 
engaged in the industry. 

Principal Towns^ Tapachula with its 5,000 inhabitants, is the commercial center and 
present seat of government of the department, which consists of seventeen municipalities. 

Tuxtla Chico, Nuehuetan, Union, .Juarez, and Escuintla are all towns boasting a popula- 
tion of more than 1000 each. 

^ San Benito located on an open roadstead is the only seaport in Soconusco. The Pacific 
mail line of steamships call at this port twice each month. 



COCOANUT PALIf 



The open character of the port exposed to certain winds, is considered unsafe from August to October and the lighterage 
charges are excessive $7.50 per ton being charged. 

Communications^* A good trail leads from Tapachula to Tonala, also from Tapachula to the frontier where it connects with 
the trails of Guatemala. To San Cristobal and Comitan there are the usual rough mule trails only. 

The prospective lines of travel are a railway, expected to be built in the immediate future, having its initial at San Gero- 
nimo on the Tehuantepec railway thence via Tonala to Tapachula and so on to the Guatemalan frontier. 

Products.^* Coffee is the chief product. The raising of live stock and the manufacture of sugar and native brandy are also 
profitable industries. Cacao, at one time the principal product of the department, is of superior quality. The rubber and cocoa- 
nut trees are now being planted to a considerable extent. Labor is in fairly good supply at from eighteen to twenty-five cents 
per day. 

A batallion of the Mexican Federal Army is stationed at the International Mexican-Guatemalan border in this department. 
Climated While not so undesirable as that of Tonala, the climate is by no means perfect, although in the higher coffee 
regions it is fairly healthy and pleasant. 



Tonala. 

gHE department of Tonala occupies the greater portion, in length, of the narrow strip 

of territory in the state of Chiapas, lying between the crest of the coast range 
and the Pacific Ocean. Between sea and mountains lies a narrow fringe of low flat 
land from which the Sierra Madre, or coast range, rise abruptly to altitudes of from 
2500 to 5000 feet. 

Compared with other departments, Tonala is fifth in area of territory ; eleventh in 
population and seventh in instruction ; three per cent of its 10,000 inhabitants being 
able to read and write. Its property valuation of !t!648,-303.00 gives it eighth place in 
point of wealth. There is no Indian population in this Department. 

Principal Towns.a* Tonala, situated about eleven miles from the port of Arista, is 
the seat of government for the department and is the place of residence for the Federal customs and other officials. It has a 
population of about 3500 and is the port of entry and export for the southern part of the state of Chiapas. There are no other 

32 




"home, sweet HOMl! 



towns of importance. The port of Arista is a hamlet of less than 200 people. On the mountain slopes to the north of Tonala 
is found an interesting group of ruins which include an ancient ''temple " with carved blocks of stone. The remains are also 
found of an ancient paved roadway carried along the mountain sides, similar in design and engineering to the famed paved high- 
ways of the Incas of Peru. 

The principal thoroughfare is the wagon road and trail leading from the port of Arista through Tonala to the interior of 
the state at Tuxtla, and also to San Geronimo on the Tehuantepec railway. A wagon road also leads through the department 




A VIEW IN TEE DEPARTMENT OF TONALA 



southeast to Tapachula. The prospective railway lines are, a line having its initial at San Geronimo on the Tehuantepec rail- 



way, running thence via Tonala to Tapachula and the Guatemalan frontier. 
Tonala to Tuxtla. The final construction of these two lines are matters of 

Products and Industries.^ Stock raising, salt making and the sea fish- 
indigo, cocoanuts, tobacco and rubber are the principal products. The 
that of Simojovel. 

Climates' The climate is oppressively hot during the summer 
decidedly unhealthy at all seasons of the year. At the high 
endurable and the health feature much improved. 



Comitan. 

gHE department of Comitan is 

of the state. Adjoining Guat 
two-thirds of the boundary line 
Chiapas. While third in prop 
in instruction, more than nine 
being classed as illiterate. The 
elsewhere, being accounted for 
number. From its extensive 
contour that includes high plains 
numerous fertile valleys. In 
where corn is produced with 
Comitan also includes with 
and the other and more exten 
drain its waters into the Usum 
partment, like that of Chilon, 
Principal Towns.^» Comitan 




Also a line from the port of Arista through 
the near future. 

eries are the chief industries,while coffee, 
tobacco is said to be equal in quality to 

season ; and along the low coast lands is 
er mountain altitudes the climate is 



the largest in area of all the sub-divisions 
emala its eastern limits define more than 
between that Republic and the state of 
erty valuation, Comitan is only eleventh 
ty-five per cent of its population of 45,373 
high rate of illiteracy in this department, as 
from its large preponderance of Indians 82,657 in 
' area it presents the many and varied features of 

and table lands, with rugged mountain ranges inclosing 
one of these localities is the famed plantation of Joncana 
ears measuring the enormous length of twenty-three inches. 
^^ ■ in its borders two beautiful lakes, one near the town of Comitan 

^<;t"^ sive lies in the eastern portion of the department and is supposed to 

acinta river. Although settled for more than 300 years much of this de- 
remains unexplored and is but little known, 
with a population of 6,430 is the seat of government and is considered one of the 

34 



best built cities in the state. A federal custom house for the collection of duties on Guatemalan importations is located here and 
the place supports a number of schools. Pinola, Margaritas, Motozintla, Zapaluta, are all towns exceeding 1500 in population. 

Communications,^* Possessing only the usual mule pack trails, travel to and from any part of Comitan is laborious and 
difficult and the transportation of merchandise expensive. 

Products and Industries^ Comitan is a large producer of grain, cattle, horses, brandy, / , 

and considerable quantities of Copal gum, all finding a ready market across the border in 
Guatemala. 

Climated The climate is as salubrious as any in Mexico. 



Las Casas. 

^HE department of Las Casas, named in honor of the eminently humane priest '' Lat 
Casas," occupies the most central position and lies at the highest altitude of any in the 
state. It stands first in population, but is lowest of all in instruction, less than three per ceni 
being able to read or write. While first in population and ninth in area, and although con- 
taining the largest city in the state, it is, next to Mescalapa, the lowest of all in propert} 
valuation, the entire holdings of its 50,91.5 inhabitants invoicing only $.341,215, a wealth of 
less than $7.00 per capita. 

The department is divided into sixteen municipalities of which San Cristobal — a city 
of 10,570 inhabitants — is the present seat of government. This important city, founded by 
Diego Mazariegos in 1528, occupies a beautiful valley 6902 feet above the level of the sea, 
which was anciently known as " Hueyzacatlan " or cold land, and lies under the parallel of '' '' 

16° 34' north latitude. It is the present ecclesiastical headquarters of the Roman Catholic 
Church for the state, the residence of the bishop and until 1892 was the capital of Chiapas. 

Principal Towns^ Aside from the city of San Cristobal the principal towns are desce.su im- of ak a.ncient king 
Zinacantan, the ancient capital of the native Quelenes. In this ancient city were once 

elected the kings of the Quiche nation. The Indian town of Chamula contains even a greater population than 
Cristobal, its people numbering no less than 12,356 inhabitants, who serve as porters in carrying goods throug' 




San 
bout 



thf state ami supply the cit)' of San Cristobal with its market 
products, from which it is distant only about seven miles. 

Communications^ From its rugged and mountainous char- 
acter, the department is difficult of approach from any direction. 
The lines of travel are the usual rough trails used by mules and 
native porters. One of these trails leads to Comitan, one to the 
state capital at Tuxtla, while another reaches El Salto on the 
Tulija river in the department of Palenke — El Salto serving as 
San Cristobal's port of entry for goods received from the CtuH 
coast. 

Products.^ Wheat is the principal product of this 
department and is high grade, said to equal in 
quality the " No. 1 hard " of Minnesota. Prom 
its high altitude all the fruits and vegetables 
of the colder latitudes of the temperate 
zone are easily produced and are of 
fine quality. 

Ciimate.5' From its extreme 
high altitude the greater 
portion of the depart- 
ment is cold and 
even severe dur- 
ing the win- 
ter months, 
the tem- 
per 



VIEW IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LA LIBERTAD 




ature frequently' falling to zero, and even to points below. 
Labor in this department is abundant, with wages at from nine 
to twelve and one-half cents per day. 



La 

Liber- 
tacl. 



HE country 
falling with- 
1 11 the boundary 
lines of the department 
of La Libertad, consists of 
extensive plains and rolling 
table lands, becoming more 
mountainous along its southern 
boundary, in which locality is found, in 
limited quantities, land suitable for the 
production of coffee. La Libertad is third in 
area and ninth in population among the depart- 
ments of the state. Nearty eight per cent of its 
14,029 inhabitants, 6920 of whom are Indians, being 
able to read and write, places it sixth in instruction, while 
its property valuation of $1,262,188.00 makes it fifth in wealth. 



Principal Towns.s^ San Bartolome, with its population of 3337, is tlie seat of government. The remaining towns in the 
department are of slight importance, none excepting La Concordia having a population of five hundred. 
Near the town of San Bartolome are found the ruins of the pre-historic city of Copanabastla. 

Communications^ The pack trails throughout the department are fairly good excepting those leading out to San Cristobal 
and Comitan, which are rugged and difficult. 

Products and Industries^ Stock raising is the principal industry, the markets being San Cristobal and Guatemala. Coffee 
is produced in limited quantities. Salt is also manufactured to a limited extent, being evaporated from the saline waters found 
in certain arroyos. Corn, beans, rice, indigo and cotton are among the principal products. 

Climated The clima'te is warm and in certain localities is considered unhealthy. 



Chiapa. 

(@HIAPA is one of the more central departments of the state ; is 
rough in contour in the north, with many fertile valleys enclosed by 
lofty mountains, while in the south is found the beautiful and fertile 
valley of La Frailesca, the one time property of the Dominican Brother- 
hood of Chiapas, but now divided into haciendas devoted in great part 
to stock raising and corn. 

Lands along the Mescalapa river, particularly near the town of 
Chiapa, are among the most valuable in the state, being held at $2.5.00 
per hectara (about two and one-half acres) and upwards. 

It is seventh in population in the state ; fourth in instruction ; 
fourth also in area, and sixth in property valuation. The nine munici- 
palities of which it is composed, being returned at $1,202,184 indicates 
a fairly prosperous condition for its 20,101 inhabitants — prosperous at 
least when compared with such departments as that of Las Casas. 

Principal Towns«^ The town of Chiapa — a view of which is given 
on page 20, was the first settlement founded by the conquering 




FOT'NTATN, TOWX OF CRIAPA 



Spaniards in 1527. It is located on the north bank of the Mescalapa, seven miles distant from the capital city of Tuxtla, and 
not far from the site of the ancient native citj' of the same name. It holds a population of about 5000, is the seat of govern- 
ment, the residence of the officials of the department and enjoys a limited trade. Chiapilla, Ixtapa, Villaflores are the other 
more important towns. 

CommunicationsJ* A wagon road leads from the town of Chiapa to the capital city of Tuxtla, but to other points only the 
ordinary mule trails are available. 

Industries and Products^ Stock raising, sugar making and the cultivation of tobacco, cotton and corn comprise the principal 
industries and products of the department. 

Climate.^ Along the lower levels, near the Mescalapa river, the weather is warm, but is cooler in the more elevated northern 
and eastern parts. 



Xtixtla. 

feYING within the borders of the department of Tuxtla are some of the most beautiful valleys and extensive table lands to be 
found in the state, the northwest corner alone being ruggedly mountainous or difficult of access. 

In area the department of Tuxtla is second in importance in the state ; fourth in population and first in instruction. Of 
its 20,33<S inhabitants 8773 are Indians, 2400 of whom do not speak Spanish. Notwithstanding this large proportion of Indians, 
fifteen per cent of the entire population are able to read and write. The property valuation of the department is placed at 
$1,573,521.00. 

Principal Towns^ Tuxtla, in its architecture, is a typical Spanish-American city. It is the seat of government for the 
department ; is the capital of the state and the commercial center for the surrounding departments. There is here located an 
Industrial Militarj' School, a Female College and a High School, all being under state patronage and control. It is the residence 
of all the state and department officials, and is in telegraphic communication with all important towns in the state and with all 
the other states of the Republic. It also possesses a neat market ; a government palace or capital building and several churches 
— however its 6581 inhabitants support only a single priest. There is also stationed at this point a battalion of the national 
military. The merchants and citizens of Tuxtla are more enterprising than those of any other city in the state. 

Communications^ A well built, well engineered highway, over which a six-horse coach can be driven with ease and safety, 
leads from the city of Tuxtla to San Geronimo, on the Tehuantepec railway. There is also a wagon road from Tuxtla to Buena 



Vista and from Calera to Arista — the port of entry for Tonala on the Pacific ; it is unfinished for a distance of nine leagues 
between Buena Vista and Calera. The road between Tuxtla and San Geronimo, views of which are given on page 29, is the 
most important public work in the state. The benefits to the public, following the opening of this highway, have encouraged the 
government to inaugurate like improvements throughout the state. 

Among other prospective lines of travel and commerce is a contemplated railway from Tuxtla to a junction with the 
proposed San Geronimo-Tonala railroad, a concession for the constraction of which has been let and will no doubt be completed 
in the near future. 

Industries and Pi-oducts.5* Stock raising is the principal industry of the department at large, while the manufacture of 
cigars, cigarettes, leather and brandy are carried on to a considerable extent in the city of Tuxtla. Indigo, sugar, coffee and 
hennequen are the principal products, of which coffee is the chief. 

Climate.** The climate will average equally as desirable as any in the state. 




DON BODRIGO RANC'HO, DEPARTMENT OF TUXTI^A 




sKi> Cm'RC'II, 



to the production of coffee, cacao, tobacco an 

Principal Towns^ Copainala, with a popula- 
tion of 2221, is the seat of government and is 
situated in the southern part of the department 
on the banks of a river of the same name. 
Tecpatan, situated in the midst of a promising 
coffee region, was once the ancient capital of 
the one-time powerful Zoque nation. There is 
also found here the ruins of an immense 
church, founded by the Domitjican Brother- 
hood at an early date following the conquest. 
The magnitude of these ruins indicate the early 
importance attached to this particular locality. 



other 



Mescalapa. 

^HE territory of Mescalapa, the least in area of any of the 
subdivisions of the state, was formed from portions of the 
departments of Tuxtla, Chiapa and Pichucaico and organized as 
a separate department in 1892, making of it not only the small- 
est but also the newest of the departments in the state, it is also 
twelfth in population and properly valuation. 

Of its population, 9047 — of whom 8162 are Indians — less 
than six per cent can either read or write ; this ratio of illiteracy 
places it eighth in instruction among the other departments. 

Mescalapa is one of the most mountainous in the state ; 

nevertheless a large portion of its surface is clothed with a 

tropical forest, has an ample rainfall, a rich soil and is suitable 

tropical products, many of which are indigenous to the locality. 




BELOW THE MAL PASO, DEPARTMENT OV MESCALAPA 



Quechula is a hamlet of some five hundred inhabitants and is situated at the head of canoe navigation, on the Mescalapa 
river At this place there are also the ruins of a large Christian church, a view of which appears on page 40. This church Ir 
said to have supported down to a time within the memory of those now living, a colony of more than twenty pious Dominican 
brothers. Now a single lonesome priest makes his appearance but once a year to baptize and confess the faithful 

Communications^ The natural outlet of this department is by means of the Mescalapa river to the Gulf This rout° is 
however, seriously impeded by the mad whirlpools of the " Mai Paso," rendering both difficult and dangerous its navigation' 
Ihe remaining highways are the most rugged of mountain trails. 

Industries and Products.^t Cacao, coffee, tobacco and corn are the principal products, both the coffee and tobacco are of 
superior quality. 

Climated Along the shores of the Mescalapa river, the weather, although warm throughout the year, is nevertheless 

orthe's'tate ^^ '° ''^'°'' °* ^"'^^''"' *^' ^^'"' '' P"''' ""<^ "' ^ood health is enjoyed as in any other part 



Pichucalco. 

OCCUPYING the northwest corner of the state, the department of Pichucalco while mountainous in the south and east falls 
away to lower altitudes and level lands in the north and west; its changing altitudes giving it a range of climate from that of 
ttie hot, moist atmosphere of its low lands to 



air of its more 



the salubrious and cooler 
elevated mountain slopes. 

Pichucalco possesses an ample rainfall, is 
clothed with a tropical forest growth, except in 
its north and westerly portion, and has a soil 
and climate suitable to the production of all 
the tropical fruits and products. 

In area, Pichucalco stands sixth among the 
subdivisions of the state, is fifth in population, 
md third in instruction, nearly ten per cent of 




E I.PWER MEspALAPA, DEPABTMENl OF PIOHPCALOO 



its inhabitants being able to read and write. In property valuation it stands at the head of all the other departments, the 
distribution of its $3,529,816 among its 21,391 inhabitants, allotting a wealth of nearly $175.00 per capita, as against less than 
$7.00 per capita found possible in the department of Las Casas, which, although the most populous, is the poorest in the state. 
Labor in Piehuculco is in fairly good supply at twenty-live cents per day. 

Principal TownsJ* The town of Pichucalco, with a population of 1763, is the seat of government, and is also of considerable 
trade importance. I.\tacomitan, .Juarez, Teotuapan and Solosuchiapa are the remaining towns of importance. 

Travel and Transportation,^ The trade of the department of Pichucalco is almost wholly with San .Juan Bautista and the 




0.\ THE UOEDEBS OF I'm: 



piu't of Fruntera in the state of Tabasco, with which points communication is had down the Iilan(inill() river. To the interior of 
the state, only the usual rough mountain trails are available. 

Industries and ProductSt^* The principal products are coffee, sugar and cacao; the last nnmed being the chief. In the north 
and westerly portions of the department are some of the finest stock ranges in the state, and where breeding is carried on to a 
limited extent. In the municipality of Solosuchiapa are located the Santa Fe gold mines, the most important in the state. 

Climate,^ At the lower altitudes, the climate is hot and moist, but in the more elevated coffee regions it is more 
desirable and is considered healthy. 




TOWN OF I'lClIUC 




Simojovel. 

QIMOJOVEL is one of the three northern departments, occupying a position central to the 
state east and west. Mountainous throughout, it falls to comparatively low altitudes on 
its extreme northern border. It is well watered, well timbered, and has an ample rainfall. 
In territorial area it stands tenth ; ninth in property valuation ; eighth in population and 
tenth in instruction, nearly ninety-five per cent of its 20,020 inhabitants being classed as 
illiterates. 

Principal Towns.^ Simojovel is the seat of government for the department, has a popula- 
tion of 2998 and is the center of trade for the surrounding country. Sabanilla, Platanos 
and San Pablo, are towns having upwards of 1000 inhabitants each. 

Trade and Transportation^ The larger portion of the department is drained by the 
Tapijulapa river and its tributaries. This river flows northward into the Teapa river in 
Tabasco, which in turn falls into the Mescalapa, near San .Juan Bautista. These several 
water courses afford the department communication with the city named, which is the prin- 
cipal market for its products. All trails are rough and difficult, the greater portion of 
commerce with the interior being by means of cargadores or porters, who carry from eighty 
to one hundred and ten pounds each, on their backs, 
i.ii [.Ap.\ i!i\ hR Products and Industries.^ Tobacco, which is the principal product, is grown inconsiderable 

quantities, and is among the finer qualities grown in all Mexico. It is said that tobacco from this department, on being sold in 
San .Juan Bautista, where it brings a high price, is then sent to Havana, in Cuba, from which point it is again forwarded to New 
York and sold as the golden leaf of the " Ever Faithful Isle," bringing in the New York market as high as $2.00 to $6.00 per pound- 
In the vicinity of Pueblo Nucvo Solistahuacan and .Jitotol is produced a vegetable wax, made by boiling the seeds of a 
peculiar plant. The wax thus produced being used in the manufacture of candles and soap. 



Climate.^ Almost any desired climate can be found in Simojovel, from that of the tierra caliente of the lower valleys in the 
north, to the cooler mountain altitudes in the more southern portion. 



Chilon. 

fiHILON — a Maya word — signifying " Sweet Land," is one of the frontier departments, and in area of territory ranks eighth in 
the state ; while in population it is third ; in property valuation seventh and in instruction ninth ; only about five per cent 
of its 27,790 inhabitants being able to read and write. Of this sum total of population 19,514 are Indians, of whom only 337 
speak Spanish. 

In contour Chilon is generally mountainous, rising in the south to fertile plains, similar to those of Comitan. The depart- 
ment is well watered throughout, has an ample rainfall in the northern portion, as is shown by the tropical forest growth which 
covers the greater part of its surface. The headwaters of the Tulija river take their rise in this department, flowing north through 
the department of Palenke. The Jatate is the principal river, falling into the Usumacinta. Although among the richest in 
natural resources of any of the departments in the state, and although portions of it have been settled ever since the days of the 
conquest, still much of its territory remains unexplored to the present day, and is therefore unknown. Numerous and interesting 
antiquities are found throughout this department, notably the ruins of an ancient city, lying near the town of Ocosingo. Of still 
greater interest are the remains of the pre-historic city, " Lorillard," found at the extreme northeast corner of the department, in 
a great bend of the Usumacinta river, and which were but recently discovered by the exploring archaeologists, Maudsley and 
Charney. 

Principal Towns^ Ocoscingo is the seat of government and possesses a population of 1247. Yajalon, Bachajon, Cancuc and 
Oxchuc are native towns, numbering in population from 2500 to 3500 each. 

Communications^ Chilon is accessible only by mule trails, the principal ones leading to San Cristobal from the southwest and 
one to El Salto on the north, the last named place serving as the port of entry for merchandise receivable from the Gulf 
coast. 

Products and Industries^* The cultivation of sugar, stock raising and logging — cabinet woods — are the principal industries. 
All tropical products are possible of successful cultivation in one part or another of the department. In this department 



is cultivated a peculiar variety of sugar cane yielding a sugar that, in its natural state, is as white in color as the refined product 
of commerce Coffee is produced only to a limited extent, but wherever cultivated produces enormously. In 1893 two hundred 
trees on the plantation of Don Lisandro Castellanos, yielded the remarkable harvest of 2000 pounds-the equivalent of 
ten pounds to the tree. 





CHAPTER VI 

Palenke. 

AKEA AND POPULATION-VISITEB BY COKTEZ- SETTLED IN 1650-PKE-HISTOEIC CITY OF PALENKE IT. 
PBo27Tr°"""~'"''''''-''^"'^^^^'= BIVEHS-C.XMATE-ANIMA.S AND INSECTS soida^D 

gHE department of Palenke is eleventh in area among the subdivisions of the state of 
l^; Chiapas and is hfth in instruction and tenth in population; 10 449 of its 13 89.5 in 
habitants are classed as Indians, of whom only 1455 speak Spanish. It is from this 
native element that is drawn the labor supply of the department, wages being f on 
eighteen to twenty-five cents per day. ^ 

The principal towns are the Indian settlements of Hidalgo in the southwestern por- 
ous coffee district in the southwest andTL MeltnTowT"'/ El^Ilf " °" '^^ T'\ ^^"^■'- "^^'"'"'^ ^" *^^ '^^"^^^ ^^ ^ P^^P"- 

47 



forest, has perished from the earth with its vanished huilders; its present title being derived from the insignificant modern town 
of Palenke. Although distant but five miles from the settlement named, so dense is the intervening forest that the beautiful 
temples and massive buildings of this one-time capital of an unknown Empire, remained undiscovered to the near-by Spaniard 
for nearly a hundred years. On being brought to the notice of the Spanish government in 1750, official examination was 
ordered at different times, with results that only proved, however much of a conqueror the Spaniard might have been, his 
mission was surely not that of an archaeologist, his talent evidently being to destroy and not preserve. It remained for Waldeck 
in 1832 and Stevens and Catherwood in 1840 to really bring the attention of the world to this most wonderful of forgotten cities. 




IN op EL SALTO DE AGUA 



Following these eminent explorers the ruins have been visited by many travelers and archseologists, their sculptured temples and 
palaces have been measured and their inscriptions copied, but lacking the magic key of some " Rosetta stone," their secrets remain 
fast locked in the mystery of their unknown characters. Of the four views given of these ruins the ones on pages 53 and 55 are 
those of the '' Palace. " This building — only a small portion of which is shown in each engraving — measures 228 feet in length 
by 180 feet in width; a portion of the standing walls still reaching to a heighth of 30 feet; its columns and walls being of cut 
stone. The photographic reproduction on page 55 shows one of the entrances to the main inner court. The engraving on page 
51 is from a photogragh of what is known as the Temple of the Cross, so named from an elaborate cross cut in relief on a slab of 
stone found in its interior. In size this temple is 50x31 feet and is 40 feet high. Its roof is an overlapping arch of cut stone. The 




TEMPLE OF THE SUN, RUINS OF PALENKE 
49 




:f.\T;VE I'AltM IX THE 
MTCHIlL 



illustration on page 

49 is that of a 

building commonl}' 

called the Temple 

of the Sun. This 

structure is 40x30 

feet in size and 

about 30 feet in 

heighth. Its roof, 

like that of the 

Temple of the Cross, is an overlapping arch of stone; the principle of the true arch; that 

is, the " Keystone," if known to these ancient builders, is a feature in their archi- 

THE tecture remaining undiscovered 

Of the people or of the civilization that made possible the construction of these won- 
derful buildings that mark the center of this ancient capital, absolutely nothing is known, not a whispered word has survived its 
building or builders. Its abandonment is equally as mysterious and forgotten as its founding. Estimates of the age of these 
ruins by the authorities (.?) assign an antiquity of from one thousand to more than five thousand years. A fair consensus of 
these scientific estimates, is that of a founding in the second century and an abandonment some eight hundred years later. All 
that is well established is the fact that this capital of unknown kings and emperors was as absolutely forgotten and unknown at the 
time of the conquest, nearly four hundred years ago, as it was at the date of its discovery in 1746. However, all travelers and 
authorities agree that these ruins mar|i the site of a once great and populous city, with busy marts of trade and lines of com- 
merce extending their arteries over a vast empire. 

In his "Native Races" Bancroft in closing a chapter on this forgotten city well says: 
" That the key of our written history can ever be lost, our civilization blotted out, ruined structures and vague traditions called anew into 
requisition for historic use, we believe impossible. Yet who can tell; for so doubtless thought the learned men and high priests of Palenke, when 
with imposing pageant and sacrificial invocation to the Gods in the presence ot the assembled populace, the inscribed tablets had been set up in the 
niches of the temple; and proudly exclaimed the orator ot the day, as the last tablet settled into place, 'Great are our Gods and goodly the inheritance 
they have bequeathed to their chosen people. Mighty is Votan, world-wide the fame ot his empire, the great Xibalba; and the annals and the glory 
thereof shall endure through all the coming ages; tor are they not here imperishably inscribed in characters of stone that all may read and wonder!'' " 
To Bancroft's interesting suggestion of a possible search among the ruins of the future, for some remaining evidence of the 

50 




TEMPLE OF THE CROSS, RUINS OF PALENKE 




VIKW OP THE CAMP 



present civilization. I wi'l 
venture to add that: to aban- 
don a dozen of the proudest 
of America's modern cities ; 
subject them to the devastating 
storms of ten long centuries ; 
attack their massive piles of 
brick and stone with the re- 
sistless prying growth of pene- 
trating roots below and 
giant spreading limbs above ; 
rock their foundations with 
unnumbered earthquakes and 
blast their Cyclopean walls 

with the thunderbolts of a thousand years, then scourge their forsaken courts and deserted streets with a score of lightning lit 
fires and, at the end of their centuries of abandonment, the explorer will find, among all their crumbling ruins, less of chiseled 
monuments; less of carved tablets and sculptured columns to ieli of their building or builders, than has been found in this single 
long-lost city of Palenke. 

The department of Palenke lies on the north flank of the Sierra Madre, its extreme northeasterly quarter extending down to 
and out upon the open grass lands that reach northward through the state of Tabasco for a hundred miles to the shores of the 
Gulf of Mexico. High and bold in its more southern section, it falls away to foothills and sloping plains in the north, all clothed 
in a wealth of tropical forest, abounding in mahogany, ebony, rosewood, zapote and other valuable cabinet woods as j'et unknown 
to commerce. 

The rainfall along this northern slope of the Sierra Madre, is the most abundant in supply, and the most uniform in dis- 
tribution throughout the year, of any locality in the state or Republic. Streams of pure, clear water abound throughout the 
department, winding their way through mountain valleys and rolling foothills down to the Usumacinta, Michol and Tulija rivers, 
which with their tributaries serve to drain the entire department. Penetrated by two noble rivers, the Tulija in the west, and 
the Usumacinta along its entire northeastern border, the department is naturally the most accessible of the departments of the 
state. It is true that both Tonala and Soconusco are bathed by the tides of the Pacific Ocean, but neither possess more than an 
open roadstead, confessedly dangerous from September to November, while Palenke's magnificent rivers give certain navigation for 

.52 




WESTERN SIDE OF THE PALACE, RUINS OF PALENKE 



steamers of good draft every month in the j-ear. Here as in other- portions of the state of Chiapas and elsewhere in the Republic, 
altitude is the chief factor determining climate. In the department of Palenke can be found every variety of climate from the 
frost and almost freezing temperature of its elevated southern borders, to the unchanging summer of its lower levels on 
the Tulija and Usumacinta rivers and the beautiful valley of the Rio Michol. 

In defiance of the actual facts, however plainly stated or fairly proven, the bias of the northern mind continues to look on 
all southern countries as being oppressively hot, and that too without regard to altitude or other conditions. No greater or 









m 


■ 


■ 


^SUf^^^'^^^^^^^M 


^f'vSfo' 




^L 






*^ 


J^ 1 










^ 


■j 


HHm! 


^^HL'. '^ 


*^V)-' 




^^H 




1 


■H 


^^HEuaI:£- . - 




IHH^^^HH 



VIEW ON THU Hid MIC-IIOL 



more common error exists. As has before been stated, altitude, proxmity of sea and mountains, together with the course of pre- 
vailing winds are the determining factors in climate, especially in these low latitudes. In the valley of the Rio Michol, at altitudes 
of from 1000 to 2500 feet, the temperature will never reach 95° in the shade, nor will it ever fall below 55° — an extreme range of 
40°. Compare these extremes of temperature with those of Southern California — the Mecca of all climate seeking Americans — 
where the range is from 110° in the shade during summer months down to 20° in the winter — extremes of 90° — and it will be 
seen how much more uniform and agreeable is the temperature in Chiapas than in much vaunted California. The warmest 




EASTERN SIDE OF THE MAIN COURT OF THE PALACE, RDINS OF PALENKE 

55 



months are those of March, April and May; these ;iionths mark the 
highest temperature of the year — the 95° quoted — which the intelli- 
gent reader will note as being less than that of New York, Chicago, 
St. Paul or even that of Manitoba, in British America, the last 
named point being more than thirty degrees farther north than 
Chiapas. The facts are that the climate of Palenke is less oppres- 
sive during summer months than is the climate of any of our south- 
ern states, nor is it so trying as the extreme heat of our more north- 
ern states. The rainfall, as has been noted, is distributed through- 
out nearly the entire year, but must not be understood as being con- 
tinuous. Every forenoon, unless in November, the sun -will rise 
perfectly clear, the clouds beginning to gather toward midday with 
a following shower of from fifteen to thirty minutes, falling any 
time between 1 P. M. and midnight. Notwithstanding these fre- 
quent showers the hours of sunshine during the year will far ex- 
ceed in number the hours of clear skies in any of the states of the 
Ohio valley. 

Concerning the droves of wild animals, huge (?) serpents and 
the swarms of venemous insects said to infest all tropical countries, 
it is but truth to say that the dangers and deaths from these phan- 
tom " bogies " fade away just in the ratio that the country is ap- 
proached. The existing dangers (?) are always just beyond, over the next mountain range or in the next valle)', but never in the 
particular locality of your visit. The facts are: all these alleged dangers of the country belong to the well-'told tales of the trav- 
eler who does not intend his experience in foreign lands shall lack the thrill of adventure in relating. 

Of insect life — always annoying in any country — it can be said, in a comparative way, that mosquitos, on cleared land, are 
not as bad as along any part of the shores of lakes Michigan in Wisconsin, Erie in Ohio or Ontario in New York. Flies, fleas, 
scorpions, centipedes and tarantulas are not nearly so numerous in any part of Chiapas, as they are in Southern California. The 
insects usually quoted as being singular to the country, such as nihuas, rotodores, garapatas and talajes, are, in fact, varieties 
common to most parts of the gulf coast of the United States; and are seemingly given credit for greater blood-thirstiness because 
their native names have failed to identify them with the same family nearer home, 

56 




EIVEE LANDING, HL 




TYPICAL MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPE, DEPARTMENT OF PALENKE 
57 



In this department of Palenke, blessed with 
an abundant, uniform and well-distributed rain- 
fall, a rich virgin soil and an absolute freedom 
from frosts or drouth, are conditions insuring the 
successful cultivation of almost every tropical 
product known to commerce. Growing wild in 
the valley of the Rio Michol, can be found va- 
nilla, cacao, tobacco, the rubber tree, zapote, pine- 
apples and an unnumbered variety of tropical 
fruits, many of them as yet unknown to commerce, 
while in the fields of the native farmer are seen 
almost as countless a variety of grains and vege- 
tables. Three crops of corn can be grown, on 
the same land, in a single year, and can be 
planted almost any day in the year. Vegetables 
of many varieties are products of almost continu- 
ous planting. 

The soil is a deep rich loam, the accumula- 
tion of uncounted ages; underlying which is 
found a peculiar variety of soft limestone — the 
identical formation that is sought for by the ex- 
pert coffee grower in Guatemala. This limestone 
formation, where exposed in the streambeds or covered by a protecting layer of damp earth, is so soft as to be easily cut with a com- 
mon knife. At the same time this rock, where fully exposed to sun and air, becomes as hard in texture as flint. It is the fer- 
tilizing qualities of this peculiar variety of limestone that gives celebrity to the coffee lands of Palenke, for the successful cultivation 
of which it is superior to any other country in the world. 

In the cultivation of any or all of these tropical products, with the cheap native labor of the country, are found profits al- 
most beyond the conception of those not familiar with the possibilities of tropical soil and climate. It is claimed for these vari- 
ous products, that cacao will yield a net profit of $400 per acre, the quality of the bean being equal to any in the world. In the 
cultivation of cacao it requires five years to bring the plantation to the point of profitable production. Two crops of superior 

58 




i'l'LI.IA R!\ 



\R rHK MOrTlI OF THI-: 



-rrr^issats^Baamm 




LANDSCAPK IN THE VAT.LEY OP THE MK'HOL, 



tobacco can be raised from the same ground each year. This industry presents the advantage of bringing quick returns as the 
planter can market his first crop within six months from the opening up of his land. The two crops will bring the producer a 
profit of from .'|!200.00 to $300.00 per acre. The planter will, however, be compelled to educate his labor as to the proper cultiva- 
tion and curing of the leaf, the native methods of treatment being very crude and primitive. The fragrant vanilla is found grow- 
ing wild in many localities of the department, often betraying its presence by its pleasing perfume. Although this product com- 
mands a high price — $8.00 per pound — it is given but little attention. An acre cultivated with this valuable bean, it is said, will 




CASCADES OF THE TULIJA (TOO-LRE-H.AH) 
60 



j'ield a profit beyond that of almost any other known product common to the country. Rubber, although it requires more time to 
bring a plantation of trees into bearing, is one that is remarkably profitable and, after the first two years, is much less 
expensive in ics cultivation than almost any other product. The trees, taken from their native home in the adjoining forest or 
transplanted from the nursery, are planted 400 to the acre. For the first two years they are cultivated by keeping the weeds 
thoroughly subdued, after which they require little attention. At the expiration of the seventh year, they are tapped for the first 
time, and will yield from one to two pounds to the tree ; the product at present commanding fifty cents per pound ; the yield 
representing a gross value of .$200.00 to $400.00 per acre at its first harvest, increasing yearly thereafter, until at the age of 
fifteen years the trees will yield four to six pounds, representing an average value of more than one xnousAiNi) dollars per acre. 
The cultivation, harvesting and marketing will not cost to exceed seven or eight per cent of the market value of the product. 

But of all these myriad fruits and products, when time and expense are considered, the one presenting the promise of 
greatest profit is certainly that of coffee. This product requires less time, from first planting, to bring profitable returns than 
does rubber ; is not as delicate as cacao, and while not so prompt in first returiis as tobacco, it is less expensive in its cultivation 
and does not demand the experience and skill that is required in the cultivation, care, and curing of that better known product 
for market. 




ENTEASL'E TO THE FOREST FKOM THE GKASSLAND 




ABOVE THE CASCADES ON THE TULTJA 




CHAPTER VII 

COFFEE— BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION — HOME OF THE PLANT — PIBST UTILIZED 
— EXTENDED USE — INTEODUCTION INTO AMEBIC A - CULTIVATION IN 
MEXICO-IN PALENKE— COST AND PBOPIT PEEAOBE— MB. PEASE's TABLE 
OF EXPENSE— ACOESSABILITT OF COFFEE LANDS OF THE KIO MICHOL 
TO TEANSPOKTATION. 



^HE botanical description of 
!) text books is: 



co; 



Hee as laid down in the 



A TWO-YEAR-OLD COFFEE TREE 



"The coffee ahrub or tree is an evergreen plant, which, under 
natural conditiona, grows to a height of 18 to 20 feet, with oblong-ovate, 
accuminate smooth and shining leaves, measuring about six inches in 
length by two and one halt inches in width. Its flowers, which are pro 
duced in dense clusters in the axils of the leaves, have a five toothed 
calyx, a tubular five-parted corolla, five stamens, and a single bifid 
style. The flowers are pure white in color, with a rich fragrant odor, 
and the plants in blossom have a lovely and attractive appearance, but 
the bloom is very evanescent. The fruit is a fleshy berry, and being in 
appearance and size more like a cherry, which on ripening assumes a 
dark red color. Each of these berries, or cherries, contains two seeds 
embedded in a yellow pulp and these seeds are enclosed in a thin mem- 
branous endocarp (the parchment.) The seeds which constitute the raw 
coffee ot commerce are plano-convex in form, the flat surfaces which are 
laid against each other within the berry having a longitudinal furrow or 
groove. They are of a soft, semi-translucent, bluish or greenish color, 
hard and tough in texture." 



Coffee is indigenous only to the soil of 
Africa, on which continent it is found 
gi'owing in a wild state in widely separated 
localities. Its first cultivation as an 
economic food product is, however, traced 
to Abyssinia from where its use extended 
to Arabia, where it received its present 
name, and where it first gained commercial 
importance. Upon its first introduction 
into Arabia, about 1470, its use met, for a 
long time, the opposition of the Mahomme- 
dan priesthood, being looked upon as an 
intoxicating beverage and therefore pro- 
hibited by the Koran. However, like all 
things needful to man, it survived the ana- 
themas of the church, until its use has 
finally extended over the civilized world. 

While there are two traditions as to the 
introduction of coffee into the Americas, 
they each agree as to the year, 1720, as be- 
ing the date. One of these traditions as- 
signs its introduction to a French officer, 
another to a Dominican priest. In each 
tradition the importation of the delicate 
plant, it is said, was made in a ship that, 
on the voyage, fell short of water for its 
passengers and crew. In this dilemma misfortune threatened this first importation of the berry. But — and here the traditions 
differ somewhat — the thirsty officer heroically denied himself, his meagre allowance of water that he might nourish the tender 
shoot in his care ; while the other tradition says that the priest — with more forethought — first drank the water and then gave the 
parched and shrivelling shrub the benefit of his tears. As adding to this tinge of romance it is claimed that all the coffees of the 




ON THE BANKS OF THE RIO JIICHOL 



of the new world sprang from this single shrub thus miraculously preserved by the heroic officer denying his thirst, or the 
pious tears of the holy padre, according to the reader's faith in the saving virtue of tears or water. Whatever the particular 
manner of its introduction maj' have been, whether by champion of "cross" or "sword," it is certain the plant soon spread, from 
the island home of its first introduction, to the mainland in Costa Rica, Guatemala and later to Mexico : finding in its last 
transplanting conditions of soil and temperature peculiarly suited to its perfect development. 

Of all the countries in the world where the cultivation of coffee has been attempted, in none has it found in soil and 
climate a more congenial home than that of Chiapas, in Mexico. The superior quality of the Chiapas berry gives it a high rank 
among the very best varieties known to commerce, while the enormous yield of its trees is beyond that of anv known coffee 
region on the globe. 

CULTIVATION. 

The methods of Mexican coffee 
cultivation are necessarily varied 
to suit the changed conditions of 
altitude, rainfall, and the richness 
or poverty of soil found through- 
out what is known as the "coffee 
zone " of the country. Because of 
these diverse conditions, found with 
each change of locality, it is im- 
possible to give the details of any 
system of cultivation that will 
intelligentlv apply to the whole 
country. 

Irrigation, to a greater or less 
extent, is resorted to throughout 
the Mexican zone, except in the 
states of Tabasco, southern Vera 
Criiz and portions of Oaxaca and 
Chiapas. In these last named a trail in the fuothu.i.> 







localities thi? rainfall is abundant throughout the year, rendering artificial application of water wholly unnecessary at any time- 
Another changing feature of cultivation is that of a protecting shade given the trees of the plantation. In the larger portion of 
the country, this feature of shade is indispensable, while in the extreme high altitudes possible to coffee production, no shade 
whatever is required. Again, on lands of poor, thin soil as many as a thousand and even twelve hundred trees are planted to the 
acre, while in Chiapas the richness of the soil will not permit the planting of more than five hundred to the same area. This 
idea of planting the greater number of trees on the poorer soil, sounds paradoxical to the northern mind, nevertheless such is the 
custom. However, trees planted in such great numbers to the acre on lean land attain only a bush-like growth, and yield only 
one half to threequarters of a pound to the tree, a gross yield of 600 to 900 pounds to the acre ; while in the rich soil of 
Chiapas with only .500 trees to the acre, the growth is more tree like, the yield being at full bearing, from four to eight pounds to 
the tree, or an average of from 2000 to 4000 pounds to the acre. In fact, there are well known small plantations yielding as high 
as 10 pounds to the tree, making the enormous harvest of five thousand pounds to tiih ache. JMore than this, there are trees 
in Chiapas that have been known to yield 40, 50 and even 60 pounds each and every year for many years. Of course, such trees 
are exceptional ; nevertheless, they serve to show the possibilities of the industry and what might be accomplished with a more 
thorough system of cultivation than is practised at the present time. 

In establishing a plantation in any of the northern departments of Chiapas, the undergrowth and all the smaller trees are 
cut down and left to dry for at least twenty days ; the trees of larger growth 
being left standing as a protection to the coffee trees against both wind and 
sun. When sufficiently dry the fallen trees and undergrowth are burneci. 
Immediately following the " burning " the ground is staked off into squares, 
measuring nine feet. After this, or as soon thereafter as the heavier rains 
of the season shall set in, the young shoots, eighteen to twenty-four months 
old, are set equidistant from each other in the manner indicated. Corn, as 
an attendant crop, may also be planted between the rows of trees as, for the 
first year or two, it is in no way detrimental ; after the second year, however, the 
ground should be left to the tree alone. Following the planting mentioned the 
ground should be kept entirely free from weeds, and it is unnecesssary to say that the 
more thorough this labor is performed the better it will be for the young plantation and 
attendant corn as well. To do justice to the plantation the weeds should be cleaned from 
it at least once each sixty days for the first two years, after that age, four annual cleanings 
will be sufficient. There will be a sprinkling of coffee the second year from the date of planting 




and on the third year will 
appear a profitable crop ; 
still the trees will not come 
into y>^// bearing until five 
to six years of age, at 
which time a harvest of 
from four to eight pounds to 
the tree may be expected. 
The cost of production 
is, of course, a matter 
governed by the cost of 
labor. In the department of 
Palenke, labor commands 
from eighteen to twenty- 
five cents per day, the 
laborer boarding himself ; 
although the employer is 
supposed to furnish a house 
for each man and family. 
These houses, the visual 
thatched hut common to the 
country, cost only from six 
to eight dollars each. 

The following table showing the cost of clearing ten acres of land ; the purchase and planting of 5000 trees and the 
continued cultivation of the same for the period of three years, has been prepared for this publication by Mr. Thomas C. Pease, 
a successful American coffee planter and long-time resident of Mexico. Mr. Pease is a close observer, a practical planter, and 
his estimates of expense are exceedingly liberal and absolutely reliable as covering the maximum of necessary costs in- 
dicated. 

The number of days labor set forth in the following table will be found ample for the thorough cultivation of the ground, 
and with such cultivation the ten acres will yield at the expiration of the three years a crop of not less than one pound to the 

67 




VLTO — SAN CRISTOBAL TRAIL 



[i-vv, iir ;i gross harvest of 5000 pounds of coffee, worth in New York or Hanihurg eighteen to twenty-four cents per jjound, 
to wliicli of either points it can be shipped from the plantation on the Rio Michol for two cents per pound. 

Table of Expense for Clearing Ten Acres of Land — Purchase, Planting and Cultivation 

of 5000 Trees for Three Years. 

FIRST YKAU. 

100 days' labor clearing land - - - - . - 

GO days' labor collecting and burning brusli ----- 

'20 days' labor marking and staking land ----- 

50 daj's' labor transplanting 5000 trees ------ 

10 days' labor trimming and adjusting trees - - - - 

Purchase of 5000 trees @ $10.00 per thousand - - - - 

180 days' labor cultivation (one weeding each 60 days) 




Total of first year's expenses 



SECOND YEAK. 



180 days' labor cultivation (one weeding each 60 days) 
Incidentals ------- 



Total second year's expense - - - 

THIRD YEAK. 

180 days' lalwr cultivation (one weeding each 60 days) 
Incidentals ------- 



Total cost third vear 



$25 00 


15 


00 


5 


00 


12 


50 


2 


50 


50 


00 


45 


00 



45 00 
12 50 



45 00 
7 00 



L-OrOAXUT PALMS UN THE TLT.I.fA 



$1.55 00 



57 .50 



52 00 



Total cost of the improvements on a plantation of ten acres 

at the end of three years ------- $264 50 

The estimates of cost in the above table are based on American currency, as are all other valuations in this work unless 
otherwise expressly indicated. 



Labor in this locality of Palenke, as has been stated, is drawn wholly from the ten thousand native Indians inhabiting the 
department. These Indians are a mild, inoffensive people who, with proper training and a reasonable regard for their comfort 
and well being, make the best and most devoted of servants. Unlike the demoralized natives of the great cities of Mexico 
(whom the American tourist mistakenly assumes as representing the typical native Indian) these southern Indians are 
thoroughly honest and, with reasonable treatment, are faithful, willing and fairly industrious. The custom of the country calls 
the laborer to the field at sun up in the morning, keeping him there until the sun goes down at night. Through these long hours 
the Indian, with only his " machete," will accomplish more at such work as clearing land and " weeding," than will the more 




MAHOGANY EAKT ON THE TnLI.T 



intelligent white man with more modern implements. All that is required to secure ample labor is a just treatment of the 
people ; once assured that they will be dealt with honestly and they are devotion itself. To the credit of American planters in 
Mexico generally, and in the department of Palenke particularly, it can be said that they have established for the " Americano " 
the reputation of being the most just and generous of all employers. 

In the application of this cheap labor — eighteen cents to twenty five cents per da}' — to the production of so valuable a 
product as coffee, is found the possibilities of the enormous profits enjoyed bj' the planters of MexicoT 

As indicating the marked advantage a more valuable commodity enjoys in its marketing over ordinary farm products, it may 



here be statetl that while it costs the value of one bushel of corn in Kansas or Nebraska to send another bushel to the Chicago 
market — o.nk bag of coffee will pay the expense on ten other bags from the plantation on the Rio Michol to New York, Ham- 
burg or Havre. Or to put it differently : It will be found that the average western farmer, in order to pay the freight on his 
products, is compelled to work not less than one half of each and every year for the transportation companies that carry his 
produce to market, while the coffee planter contributes but one tenth of his time for the sanie purpose. The Palenke coffee grower 
instead of being at the mercy of railway freight pools, finds himself at the gates of the world's highway at Frontera, where pools, 
trusts and kindred combinations are unknown and where they will ever remain impossible, for no man, or combination of men, 
will ever be able to monopolize the highways of the open seas. 



lSai'"i ■ -TTu'-?':- 




A OLKARTNG IN THE FOKE^ 




CHAPTER VIII 

COLONIZATION— VAST SIZE OF MEXICAN PEOPER- 
TIES — DIFPICULTIES IN PURCHASE OF LAND — 
ADVANTAGES OF COLONIZATION — ORGANIZATION 
OF AMERICAN COMPANIES — PALENKE COFFEE 
LAND COMPANY— THEIR METHODS OP SALE 
AND SETTLEMRNT— LANDS ON THE BIO MICHOL 
— ACCESS TO MARKETS OF THE WORLD. 

<|\ IhHIhE lack of information concern- 
\^^/ ing the country is the principal 
cause preventing American emi- 
gration to Mexico, the difference in Ian, 
guage and people, but most of all- 
the impossibility of purchasing lands in 
reasonably small tracts, are hinderances 
met with that are almost as serious. 

All desirable lands in the Republic 
have long been held under private owner- 
ship, much of it for generations; some of 
it since the days of the conquest, when Cortez parceled it out among his followers. This partition of a plundered empire by the 
ruthless conqueror was made with a royal hand, the most obscure trooper being allotted in lands and people what in Europe 

71 



VIEW IN THE VALLEY OP THE RIO MICHOL 



would havi' constituted a principality. This vicious 
precedent of vast estates, thus established, has 
strangely survived all the innovations that have fol- 
lowed in the wake of changing governments and con- 
stitutions of the country, and will doubtless continue 
until broken down by the coming land tax of the 
future. When considering that these Mexican prop- 
erties are seldom less than from ten thousand to one 
hundred thousand acres in extent, and that however 
willing or anxious the owner may be to sell the whole 
of his estate, he will seldom or never part with less 
than the entire property; the impossibility of acquir- 
ing title to small tracts of land becomes plainly appar- 
ent. Every American land seeker visiting Mexico is 
sure to meet these discouraging conditions of vast 
estates where, to buy a farm, he finds he must buy the 
equivalent of a county. Considered either separately 
or coliectivelj', the above hindsrances are serious mat- 
ters to the single individual contemplating settlement 
in Mexico. 

To meet the difficulties mentioned in the purchase 
of land and the almost equal objection of isolation 
TH ,.; cArrroL oi- tabasco, san juan bautista ^^^^ necessarily foil iws indi wdual location in a foreign 

country, colonization has been found the only satisfactory method to secure successful American settlement in Mexico. By this 
means the problem of the purchase of land is easily solved, the isolation following individual settlement is eliminated and more- 
over the colonist secures to his children the benefits to be derived from good schools and to himself the advantages of those social 
features to which Americans are accustomed and which are only to be realized in the modern American town. 

In the department of Palenke, there are already established a number of French, German and American planters, all of 
whom are enthusiastic as to the future of the country, declaring it superior in climate, health and production to any part of the 
great Republic. The unqualified success of these pioneer coffee planters of Palenke has attracted universal attention to that part 

72 




of the state of Chiapas; an interest that during the 
past year has resulted in the sale of several large 
blocks of land to different American companies. 
Tiiese several companies are now engaged in efforts 
at colonizing their various properties, with present 
indications that the department of Palenke in 
Chiapas will soon contain the most important 
American settlement in Mexico. 

Among the various plans adopted by these different 
companies for securing settlement, the one found most 
popular and satisfactory is that of the Palenke 
Coffee L.\nd Comp.vny. This active and enterprising cor- 
poration is selling its lands in small tracts, or in such 
quantities as may be desired, accepting one-fourth of the 
purchase price down, the balance being due in monthly in- 
stallments, if so desired. Added to this feature is the op- 
portunity given the non-resident owner to improve his 
property upon the same plan of monthly payments. Acting 
in concert with this American land company, it has been 
found that organizations for the purpose of the improvement of lands, are easily effected. These local organizations possess the 
commendable feature of enabling their various members to choose their own agents, for selection and improvement of their sepa- 
rate properties; the expense of such improvement being met by semi-annual, quarterly or monthly payments, as may best suit the 
convenience of the individual owner. In this manner properties can be satisfactorily improved, leaving the proprietor to visit his 
plantation at his pleasure. Under this system any man, by setting aside a reasonable .amount each month, for the period of two 
and a half to three years, can easily secure for himself a comfortable and satisfactory income. 

For verification of these claims that two, three, four and five hundred dollars per acre can be realized in coffee planting, 
the reader is referred to the official reports of the Governments of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico, and to the official reports, 
as well, of our own Consuls representing the United States in these countries. If reliance can be placed upon these official reports, 
or if the statements of American planters engaged in the industry in Mexico are to be credited, then these assumed profits are 
real and the claims made for the country are correct and legitimate. 




AMEUICAX CONSULATE, I'RONTKR.i 



.^^ 



As has before been stated the most desirable locality in the department of Palenke, when health, climate, products and 
accessibility to markets are considered, is tlic beautiful country of the Rio Michol. This locality, easily accessible to the navigable 
waters of the Tulija, is only 130 miles from the Gulf port of Frontera, and about the same distance from San Juan Bautista, the 
state capital of Tabasco, and the present commercial distributing point and central market for all of the northern part of the state 
of Chiapas. The ])ort of Frontera, however, is the port of entry and is destined to become the future city of all that part of the 
gulf coast. Via New Orleans, Frontera is distant from Chicago only 1712 miles, and as shown by the time table of the New York 
and Cuban Mail ("Ward Line") Steamship Companj^, lies within 1762 miles of New York Citj\ 

By reference to any good map it will be seen that these enormously rich lands of Chiapas are hundreds of miles nearer the 
great nuirket of Cliicago, than are the orchards of California or the wheat lands and stock farms of Oregon and Washington, and 
are more than a tlwusand miles nearer the still greater market of New York City than is any part of the Pacitic states named. 
More than this: the products of the mountain and Pacific states can only reach their final market after a long and expensive 
haul by transcontinental rail; while the coffee lands of Palenke, particularly those in the valley of the Rio Michol, are practically 
accessible by water to all the markets of the great cities of our eastern seaboard and to Europe and the world at large. These 
facts are well worth serious consideration when measuring the relative merits of location and land values. 

As a fair measure of the actual -xwiX relative values of these Cliiapas ])roperties it will be found both interesting and instruct- 
ive to compare their annual profits of hundreds of dollars per acre with the wheat and corn lands of the states in the Mississippi 
valley, whore returns of $5.00 to $8.00 per acre are considered t'(?n' satisfactory. And yet these corn lands and wheat farms 
sell fron) $50.00 to $100.00 per acre while the far richer lands of Cliia)ias, though viany times more profitable, are to be had for less 
than onetentli the price askedfor the far less fertile northern proiiiiiii"--. 

No man familiar with the problem of advancing laml 
values throughout the civilized world, but will promptly 
agree that in a very few years these selections from the best of 
Chiapas' richest lands will command many times -their present 
value. 

The man of middle age in the United States has fairly 
witnessed the beginning and end of the settlement of the 
states west of the Mississippi river. This settlement has been 
sufficiently complete, at least, to close all lesser avenues of 
money making, save only to those of ample capital : a result 
that leaves the avcr;ii;e man a, " licwer of wood and drawer 




MAIN STREET IN FRONTERA 




PLAT OF I,ANDS 

OF 'IME 

PALKNKE t'OFFEE LAND COMPANY 



It is said that : 

" The Genii opportunity knocks once at each man's door, 
But if unheeded, hurrying on, returns to knock no moek." 



THK FOLI.OWING TABLE OF DISTANCES 

From Frontera to Chicago and New York, as compared with various cities in the United States, is added as data 

of possible interest. 



Seattle, Washington - 
Tacoma, Washington - 
Spokane, Washington 
Portland, Oregon - 
San Francisco, California 
Boise, Idaho - - - 
Los Angeles, California 
San Diego, California - 
Carson City, Nevada - 
Helena, Montana - 



2233 
2322 
1881 
2314 
23.57 
18.30 
226.5 
2343 
2162 



miles 



TO NEW YORK. 



3145 
3234 
2793 
3226 
3269 
2742 
3177 
32.55 
3074 
2352 



miles 



Butte, Montana 
Bismarck, North Dakota 
Denver, Colorado 
Cheyenne, Wyoming 
Santa Fe, New Mexico 
Phoenix, Arizona - 
Ogden, Utah - 
Salt Lake, Utah - 
Austin, Texas - 
Frontera, Mexico 



TO CHICAGO. TO NEW YORK. 



I7J2 miles 







\mii 




"h ,': 



'srMW^iymym 






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mmwm-fm 






